Santa Cruz Palace is a palace

Palace

A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome. In many parts of Europe, the...

 in Valladolid

Valladolid

Valladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales...

 in western Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. Construction began in 1486 but in 1490 building came under the control of Lorenzo Vázquez de Segovia

Lorenzo Vázquez de Segovia

Lorenzo Vázquez de Segovia was a 15th century Spanish architect and builder noted for completing the Santa Cruz Palace in 1491 in Valladolid and a number of other handsome buildings in the Castile region of western Spain....

 who finally completed it in 1491.

Founded by the Cardinal of Mendoza, the college is considered to be the earliest extant building of the Spanish Renaissance. Some observers believe that some of the classical details may have been added to the facade at a later date. One anomaly is the lack of full symmetry of the main facade. Nevertheless, details such as the main doorway are generally accepted as original to Vázquez's design. Confirmation of this impression is the similar doorway on the palace of the Dukes of Medinaceli built to the designs of the architect at Collogudo to the north east of Madrid. The dukes were a branch of the same influential Mendoza family as the cardinal.